Great Leaders

I just got finished with a meeting with my leaders (and it was GREAT fellowship!) and I just cannot say enough good about Matt, Jenn, and Ashley! They are such a great supporting team! Getting with these guys makes me realize that I simply cannot lead a youth group on my own. There is soooo much wisdom in the council of many (Proverbs 15:22)! I'm sooooo excited about their enthusiasm to lead/serve as well as their passion for God! Not only this, but God is providing yet another leader to the team! He's going to be a real asset and I can't wait to see what God does through Charles! But wait, there's more :D I just spoke with our potential worship leader as of January, and He's STOKED that we want him to lead worship for us and our youth!
All of this to say that God is SO good! He is such a PROVIDER! Jesus' words prove true that "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!" (John 14:14) That's all for today :)

8 Ways to Aviod Drama

So, I've been reading Colossians, and there's some great stuff all over it, but today, God really spoke to me through Colossians 3:12-14. Hopefully He'll do the same for you. There's a lot of different applications for these verses, but I though that avoiding drama and building relationships is pretty close to God's heart. So here's 8 WAYS TO AVOID DRAMA :)

Be Compassionate - allow others pain motivate you toward doing good for them, rather than simply telling everyone about their pain

Be Kind - It's easy to push people away when they are being difficult or if they are just different. Instead, draw them closer to yourself and "kill 'em with kindness."

Be Humble - Know (and practice) that you do not always HAVE to be right! Is it not better to save or develop a friendship than to be right?

Be Gentle - Imagine the difference between a savage lion and a gentle lion...look at a savage lion cross-eyed and he'll pounce you. Look at a gentle lion cross-eyed and he'll lick your face raw. In other words, don't fly off the handle when something upsets you.

Be Patient - If you can't settle a problem with someone and they're not ready to resolve it, don't give up. Continue seeking forgiveness and restoration within the relationship.

Bear With One Another - One of the most difficult things in life is to value and accept another persons FEELINGS! Feelings are often not logical, but if someone is felling a certain way, whether it's logical or not, THAT'S HOW THEY FEEL! Accept it, value it, and move on from there.

Be Forgiving -  Forgiveness is more for the forgive-er than for the forgive-ee. If we hold resentment toward someone and don't let it go, we're like a refrigerator keeping a plate of raw stake inside and won't let it go. Eventually that raw stake will smell disgusting and will contaminate everything else in the refrigerator.

Be Loving - Always be thinking, "does what I'm about to say demonstrate love for this person?" "Does what I'm about to do show my love for that person?" I promise, you will never do anything wrong if you carefully consider these 2 questions and respond appropriately.

A Fruitful Endeavor

THAT'S IT! Titus has been kicking my butt for long enough. It's time to move on. It figures that the day I move on from Titus, I'd be challenged more than I've ever been challenged before. Paul tells Titus, "Our people [Christians] must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful." (Titus 3:14)

So often I find myself trying to make time to ready my Bible, pray, and discuss spiritual things...which is good, but it that the end goal? to read my Bible more, pray more, learn more? I don't think so. Paul says that if Christians are not engaged in "good deeds" then our our lives are unfruitful! (Think about Jesus' parable of the soils in Matthew 13:3-9)

Earlier, Paul explains (clearly) the gospel and concludes his explanation with our response to the gospel..."But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds." (Titus 3:4-8)

Earlier still, Paul explains that "good deeds" are inseparable from being saved: "[Jesus Christ] Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds." (Titus 2:14)

Finally (or firstly), in chapter one, Paul describes the people who only think they're spiritual: "They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deeds." (Titus 1:16)

I have to admit, I've been quite unfruitful. I haven't been "careful to engage in good deeds." I certainly haven't been "zealous for good deeds." So, all of that MUST change. This is why I'm so excited about the new series Echo is doing, "Exposed."  We are going to be exposed to people with real, "pressing needs" and we're going to be careful to engage in meeting these needs. In fact, I think that once we see people with real, pressing needs, we'll be zealous for meeting their needs.

Are you someone who is careful and zealous for doing good deeds? Do you need some help finding pressing needs? Do you want to be a person who is careful and zealous for doing good deeds? If so, I invite you to Echo youth group November 18th as we learn about a severe need having to do with child trafficking right here in our city. If not, I invite you to make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior. He died a sinless man so that the wrath of God intended for us would be satisfied. Now, through faith in Jesus we can have eternal life with the Source of all that is good, the God who created the universe.

Scratching the Surface

This is messed up...as I was praying this morning, I was attempting the "ACTS" method of prayer (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), and I didn't even get past the "A." My prayer went something like this: "God, you are holy, righteous, true, and just." Now, I don't know if you can read the enormously impersonal feel to those first words, but it was there when I said them. I listed a bunch of His qualities as a list of facts about God rather than qualities I know from experience, and I thought, "why don't I become overwhelmed with joy, grief, sorrow, happiness, and anticipation when I say these qualities about God?" 

If you've ever met someone who you can truly say, "He/she is a truly holy person," wouldn't you think that you would have some level of conviction of your own unholiness? your own sinfulness? What about being encouraged by their holiness? encouraged that someone is doing it? empowered by the way they live their life alone?

All throughout the Old Testament God tells His people, "Be holy as I am holy." The reason for this is that God wanted to use His people (then, it was Israel) to demonstrate to the world ("nations" as the OT puts it) who God is. Holiness was one of His main concerns. God wanted people to look at His people and say, "Wow, there is something different about they way they all live their lives!" To which an Israelite would have responded, "Yeah, because we serve a HOLY GOD."

I wonder if ANYBODY would EVER say that about me: "Wow, he's different (in a good way)." The truth is, I don't think I know much about God's holiness, justice, and righteousness because I don't live it that well. What's funny about that is I DO know all about His FORGIVENESS! Man, do I know about that! And it is good! It's something that I do go through emotional mood swings about! I love His forgiveness...I'm devastated by His forgiveness...I'm awed by His forgiveness...I'm encouraged and equipped by His forgiveness. If I knew of His forgiveness alone, that would be enough to live a life worth living! So how much greater will this life be when I can celebrate, cry over, and rejoice in His other qualities?

I've been a Christian for 10 years and I'm just barely scratching the surface...

Ridiculous Expectations

This will be quick, I promise...

Paul's writing to Titus and in chapter 2 he gives an account of what Jesus did

1) He appeared
2) He brought Salvation to all men
3) He instructed us to deny ungodliness
4) He instructed us to deny worldly desires &
5) He instructed us to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in this present age!!!

Notice that this is the last thing Paul speaks of Jesus doing before he goes into what our reaction to doing these things are...

"...to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus."

So why is it that some actually believe that they can live any way they want while on God's green earth and still expect to be happy when they see "the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus"? Is this not the most ridiculous expectation ever?!?

My Confession

Holy flippin cow! You know those times when all the stars line up just right, all traffic lights seem to turn green for you, and every friend you've ever had tells you how great you are...yeah, I've never had that last one either :)...anyway, sometimes there are just days or even weeks where all things that are happening in your life seem to be pointing you in a particular direction. Well, starting with Francis Chan's Crazy Love (chapter 9) I've been pretty jacked up. Chan speaks of Christians that are "obsessed with God." One thing a Christian who's obsessed with God, Chan says, is a person who cannot help but to love and minister to the poor. I believe that I love the poor, and would, you know, give them some change or something to eat if I was confronted with the opportunity. That last sentence you just read may give you a hint at how I really treat the poor: "I  believe..." "confronted with the opportunity..."

I can't even say it: I love the poor! Instead I soften the statement with "I believe..." This alone makes it clear to me that my actions don't say, "I love the poor."

Wait, Francis jacked me up a bit (Thanks a lot Chan :) but that same week I was reading through Galatians and lo and behold...Paul is telling the Church in Galatia his testimony about how he became a Christian and began ministering to Gentiles. He gets to the very end of his testimony, where he (Paul) is speaking with James and John (a couple of Jesus disciples who were called by God to minister to the Jews). Basically James and John commission Paul to preach the gospel to the Gentiles and the very last thing Paul recalls is "They only asked us to remember the poor--the very thing I also was eager to do."

You know, I don't think I've ever been told to "remember the poor" and certainly I have never been eager to remember the poor. The poor have always been the community that I tend to steer clear from. "They're awkward," I argue, "I don't know how to relate to them," I'd say. But does that matter? NO!!! So is my heart sooo hard as to not really caring about the poor. It must be. Now don't get me wrong because what I'm about to say may be a little judgmental and upsetting, but I think the Church (yes, the whole Church) in N. America has become hardened to this forsaken, despised, and neglected community. If you disagree, reply to me a time when someone begged you to remember the poor..."They ONLY asked us to remember the poor." Or tell me about a time when you were so passionate about serving/ministering to the poor that you said, "serving the poor is THE VERY THING I was eager to do."

Clearly, something is wrong in the Church today. I know there always will be, but this thing we can change. Having a heart for the poor is a "easy fix"...to an extent. All we really have to do is pray to God that He changes our hearts. This may result in you not spending all your money on the new whatever that just came out. Instead you may be spending more time at the homeless shelters and paying for them to eat or to use the bus. Did you know that if every church in the greater Las Vegas area (to include Henderson, Sumerlin, etc.) were to adopt a homeless person, feed, shelter, and clothe him/her then there wouldn't be any homeless people in Las Vegas.

So I confess it. I don't know how I've done it...be a Christian and not really care about the poor. But it is now clear that God wants that to change. Will you join me? Will you pray for a heart for the poor? Will you look past yourself and consider the cause of the poor with me? I guarantee it's gonna be tough. Our lives won't look near as fancy as they have been, but on the other hand, we don't live for this life. A phrase my pastor coined is that we "live in view of eternity." That's what it's going to take to live this life eager to serve the poor. 'Cause the poor will seldom be able to give back to us. That's why Jesus words are comforting: "Whatever you did for the least of these, you have done for me."